


Postcards From After Dark

by cosmicmilktea



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: 2ne1 - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Demon Hunters, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demons, Family, Gen, M/M, Magical Tattoos, Mentions of Taehyun, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, So much OT4 feels like whoa, Vampires, YG Family - Freeform, Yes hello I'm not a big fan of Yang Hyunsuk, akmu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 01:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14885109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicmilktea/pseuds/cosmicmilktea
Summary: As far as they're concerned, there's just the four of them against the dark.Or, an AU where the Winner boys fight demons and YG is a huge prick.





	Postcards From After Dark

 

Mino does not fear the dark. Not anymore.

Nowadays, his life begins after dark – when shutters and windows close and the harsh glare of neon lights drowns out the washed-out constellations above.

Or, at least it does today. It’s a Thursday, which means it’s his turn in their three-men roster and Mino slept for the whole day in preparation - Having finished all of his deadlines the day before.

He wakes up to a lavender-hued twilight outside his window, the faint sounds of children coming home from cram schools and gentle clattering below permeating through the old, old walls of his room.

“Morning, Mino-yah” Jinwoo greets him from their kitchen as Mino makes it down the stairs. His hyung is setting the table for ramen – bowls and chopsticks and plastic containers haphazardly strewn across the rickety kitchen table. There was a time when the ramen was the sole meal that they can afford for the day, Jinwoo’s boss on the ramen shop kindly turning a blind eye as he took home the leftovers of the day rather than have it dumped to the trash. They used to set aside part of their portion and tip them together into a smaller bowl, giving it to whoever was patrolling that night – Making the dinner count, hoping that a slightly fuller stomach means a slightly better chance of coming home unscathed. Of coming home at all.

Now the ramen becomes a tradition, almost – bought instead of taken home every week or so. The familiar aroma makes Mino smile, makes his steps lighter as he approaches to help his hyung.

Seunghoon comes home just as they’re done cleaning up all the containers from the table, Haute’s happy bark announcing his presence even before the old doorknob turns and their second eldest steps inside – Laughing alongside his pup’s excitement as the Italian greyhound circles round and round the lanky man. Despite holding the job for two years already, Mino thinks that he would never get used to the view of Seunghoon in suits and ties.

Seungyoon follows soon after, his ensemble much more relaxed in the nearby campus he works at as a counselor. Thor provides a noisier welcome committee, even as the cats look on from their respective perches.

Dinner is early, as it always is in their house. Jinwoo says grace and Mino talks with his mouth full, cheeks puffing out as Seunghoon pokes it with a smirk and Seungyoon laughs along at everything.

When the dishes are cleared, the kitchen lapses into quiet - Even the pets merely watching, silent, from beyond the doorway. Mino stands first and Jinwoo follows, offering up his hands so their palms touch and a familiar warmth surges through Mino’s whole being as their eldest brands ancient words, invisible, into his skin.

Seungyoon gives him his weapons, dug out from its customary place beneath the kitchen counter –Hangs them on Mino’s belt and inside his backpack, then one for each hidden holsters strapped on his limbs. They have their own preferences, but each of them are proficient with the whole of their melee and ranged arsenal. Some would say that the Keepers taught their Hunters well, but Mino will say that desperation made a better teacher. At least for them. Seunghoon gives him his helmet last, face a picture of calm as he intones what they tell each other every night, their hands cold as they brush each other over the helmet’s shiny surface.

“Be careful out there”

And then Mino goes out into the night.

 

**

 

Mino does not fear the dark, because apparently there are worse things than darkness itself. Such as the things that dwells inside them.

Mino had his first introduction with those things even before he knew what they were. At seventeen, he met his first demon – A tall, spindly thing of smoke and shadows that cornered a classmate in the dark alleys behind their school. Mino fought it with nothing but a rusted pipe and sheer adrenaline, the tears and clawing panic only finding him much, much later as he realized how his every fear of the dark was justified all along.

At twenty, a man invited him to an idol audition in Seoul, which turned out to be his one-way ticket to a world where demons and creatures of the dark roam the earth and some people’s job are to hunt them down, to keep the balance between this land and theirs.

They call themselves the Gate Keepers – An ancient order from the days before the land is called Goryeo - and Mino was one of their Chosen. Their numbers were surprisingly small for the whole country they’re supposed to protect - Some says it was the dwindling numbers of Chosens, some says it’s the gruelling training. But Mino persevered, hung on long enough through blood, sweat, and tears for him to be assigned his own circle of five, his own Gate to keep.

The concept of the Gates itself is something that Mino still hasn’t really grasped, even after all these years. He doesn’t understand how they were formed or where they actually led and if they could ever be closed - Nor does he understand why there are so many of them here in Korea. It’s not like Grand Keeper Yang or any of the people in Seoul has ever made it too clear. Not like the people in Seoul has ever made it clear on anything at all.

But Mino knows this : There is a Gate in their assigned city, which means that after dark, its streets crawl with beings that slithers from somewhere dark and damned – Demons and gwishins and vampires that hungers and menaces. Which means that the lives of its people are his and his circle’s responsibility. And so, three days a week, Mino goes out into the night and hopes he survives another day.

His own fears are the least of his problems.

 

**

 

The tattoos on his palms directs him West of the city – Seunghoon hyung’s motorcycle unfamiliar but necessary underneath his hands and the pull of unnatural things a pulsing, hot thing that gets stronger the further he rides into the quiet industrial suburbs.

Mino would normally prefer to do his patrols on foot – Scouring hard to reach alleys and back roads that are always rife with creatures of the night. But the coven of vampires they’ve been trying to uproot has been spreading themselves out to the suburbs, finding refuge in quiet neighborhoods and small warehouse complexes on the outskirts of the city. Mino wonders if this means they’ve been effective in destroying nests closer to the center of the city, or if the vampires are adapting to their methods, ekeing out a new home far away from their reach. But things has been strangely quiet for almost a few weeks now, only strange sightings and stranger graffittis crawling throughout the the silent city, as if it’s building and building into something and it makes Mino worry. Makes everyone worry, even though they smile at each other and go on their patrols as usual.

The magic Jinwoo hyung branded into him guides Mino better than any GPS, and he stops his motorcycle when the runes in his palm pulses an almost unbearable heat – Surveying his surroundings and sending off the exact location in their little group chat for Seungyoon to pin down in his ever-growing map of known nests and demon dens. There is barely any signal on his phone, but just enough.

The vampire’s newest nest, as his luck would have it, turns out to be beneath the collapsed flooring of a dilapidated house, a veritable gaping maw of darkness and potential tetanus shots. Mino catches himself just in time at the edge of where the floor gives way to nothing, gripping the doorjamb for dear life as he shines down his flashlight to reveal a rudimentary staircase carved out from the earth clinging to the house’s foundations.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” Mino grits his teeth, reaching inside his backpack for the wooden baton that is Seungyoon’s preferred weapon. Batons weren’t exactly his forte, but the wood – Blessed and enchanted by some order of priests or whatnot, emits its own light in the dark, and is thus the only thing in his arsenal that would not require an extra hand to hold a flashlight. Mino has learned, from trial and error and one too many brushes with death, that one extra hand could mean _everything._

He brandishes his baton before him as he carefully descends – the light bright enough to illuminate the pitch darkness beneath him. Gauging from their usual nest raids, individual nests like this would probably have three to five vampires inside, the numbers probably halved during nights since some of them would be out hunting. Already, Mino is calculating his moves, feeling the pressure of the wooden stake strapped against his free hand and the jostle of holy water vials inside his pocket.

The subterranean space beneath the house, however, turns out to be larger than what Mino anticipated. The initial opening narrows down into an earthen tunnel that slopes down deeper into the ground, and Mino can feel the darkness pressing in around him as he carefully navigates the damp passageway, debating whether he should come back later during their joint patrols, because this is surely -

Mino’s breath catches as the tunnel abruptly ends in another opening – The surprising feel of moving air hitting his face as he quickly slips his baton, and his light source, behind his back – Letting his eyes adjust to the dim lighting.

He is standing on the edge of what seems to be an underground cavern _-_ A ceiling of hollowed rock hanging high above them. And amongst the mess of jutting stones and uneven earth spread out before him, Mino counts a dozen – no, two dozen vampires or more. _Too many._

Very, very slowly, Mino steps back, making his way behind the safety of the passageway. But halfway through, a vampire, one lounging closest to the opening, catches his eyes – Face contorting into a mask of hatred as it screeches, shrill and loud, to echo against the hanging rocks.

Fuck fuck, _fuck._

The first vampire lunges at him as Mino starts to run. He throws a vial of holy water and keeps running – the thin glass breaking at contact to render the undead into a screaming mess. Two more snaps at his heels as Mino makes his way up, up the narrow passageway and he swings back with his baton even as his free hand draws the stake from its hidden holster. Years of training and stabbing in the dark for dear life has keyed in Mino’s muscle memory with the rough location of an undead’s heart, and the two disintegrates into plumes of dust, just in time for three more to catch up.

Mino curses and grabs a handful of holy water vials, throwing them blind to the direction of the vampires as he continues to run. The sound of breaking glass and screams follow him, along with more vampires. _Too many, damnit._

One vampire leaps ahead of its brethern, fangs bared and clearly aiming for Mino’s throat, and his hand strikes out on pure instinct, the cross tattoo on his open palm making contact with the vampire’s head and instantenously burning its skin. Mino kicks back the screaming vampire and stakes another, slowly walking backwards to the staircase that will take him to freedom. Out, _out_ of this stifling darkness.

_Just a little more._

“Well well well, look who has come to visit while I’m away”

The voice is dry and yet strangely melodic – the cadence bespeaking of a time much, much older than Mino could imagine.

And it’s coming from _behind_ him.

Mino only manages to catch a glimpse of a set of red, ancient eyes and a smile that is too, too wide, before his entire being is gripped with a familiar feeling of dread and the world lapses into total darkness.

 

**

 

Mino does not fear the dark.

And at this point, as he struggles in pitch-darkness against bonds that he can’t quite see, as he flinches at every rustling sound and flickers of movement in the pitch black, it becomes a chant, a mantra. He does not fear the dark, he is not _afraid._

He doesn’t know how long have passed since he’s last been conscious. The darkness around him probably means that he’s still inside the cavern proper, and that can mean anywhere from an hour to a full day. He knows the vampires are toying with him, disorienting him with the darkness. Youngbae hyung said once that the widespread belief of vampires being able to smell your fear is a lie – But Mino feels like if they can, they would have felt it like a roiling miasma around himself and he _hates_ the feeling.

So instead, he shouts into the darkness. “Show yourself, damnit! I know you’re there!”

His voice sounds strange to his own ears, ringing hollow against the walls of the cavern as silence answers him. As to be expected. Mino draws another deep breath, fully intending to just shout himself hoarse as suddenly a gust of dry, cold wind slithers by his neck.

A snap of a finger, and suddenly points of harsh, blue light bursts into existence in various places in the cavern – illuminating the hollowed-out space in an eerie, dim glow. And in front of him, so close that Mino can make out the veins in its red, red eyes, stands a tall figure – too gaunt and limbs all wrong to pass as a human anymore, as is usually the case with ones so ancient.

“So, so impatient, our young Keeper“ The vampire, possibly the Elder in this particular coven, cajoles in that too melodic voice. “When we have so much time to spend together until the Opening. So, so, _so_ much time“

“The opening? What the hell are you talking about?!” Mino frowns, even as he remembers the strange graffittis he had been seing throughout the city’s back alley walls. Just those words - _The Opening_ – scrawled in black ichor and repeated over and over again in countless walls, like a chant, like a rallying cry. And now _this._

The vampire’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly before its face twists into an expression of pure, malicious glee “Ah, so it is true then, I thought it was just hearsay that you are all forsaken from your bretherns in the North” It chuckles, like the rattling of dry, desert bones ”But you are, aren’t you? Little cirle, all alone now in the world. Do you even call yourself Keepers anymore, young one?”

Mino grits his teeth, trying not to flinch and holds on to the one thing that he can still make sense of “ _What_ is the opening?”

“The gates, young one. It has begun. Your brothers and sisters have been called back to Seoul and soon, soon you’ll be left here, all alone, all alone like the _runts_ that you are”

Mino doesn’t want anything to do with Seoul. Has burnt that bridge when they left the four of them to die during that summer equinox. And yet, it still stings. And he worries about the others – How many? How many survives yet? What of the other circles who aren’t called back in to Seoul like them?

“Poor, poor little keepers. Should I keep you, then? Or should I cut that pretty neck and send it back to your friends, hmm?” Sharp, spindly fingers ghost across Mino’s all to bare neck, and this time Mino _does_ flinch “Did you know how sad your leader was when your blonde brat left? Five to four is understandable, isn’t it? But _three_? Now that’s a sad, sad number” The vampire laughs.

“Tell me, little keeper, how long will it take for him to fall on his own stake were I to take the members of his little circle one by one?”

Mino thought he could not be more afraid than he is, and yet he feels a rush of fresh, cold dread seep into his spine at the vampire’s words because Seungyoon. Mino remembers the days after Taehyun left, the absolute dejection and bleakness he saw on Seungyoon’s eyes and he can’t imagine –

He can’t die here. He can’t, can’t do that to Seungyoon.

For the first time since waking up, Mino feels the fog in his mind clear up, finally able to assess the situation he’s in. He counts the number of vampires behind the elder, feels the weapons still strapped, hidden, beneath his clothes and gauges the amulet still nestled close to his heart. He can do this. _Has_ to do this.

“Shut up, you ancient piece of junk” Mino grits out, slowly, slowly sliding down the stake to the palm of his left hand. If only he can get the vampire close enough.

“Aaaah, what was that, little Keeper? Language, language, you see. But I suppose your elders in Seoul never did taught you anything at all”

Mino tenses as the vampire closes into his personal space, holding his breath as he prepares to strike – He has one shot at this.

And then a loud, ringing sound, like a bell, echoes throughout the cavern, and his world is swallowed in white light.

Mino squeezes his eyes shut on instinct as light flooded everything and an impossible warmth washes out the chill of the cavern – Soft yet radiant like sunlight and Mino can recognize the signature of this magic anywhere. _Jinwoo Hyung._

There is the sound of a scuffle before the light beyond Mino’s eyelids dims and he blinks them open, only to find the whole of his circle in front of him – the half-disintegrating body of the vampire Elder squirming beneath Seunghoon’s boots – his trusty stake-bo staff hybrid half-buried on its heart.

“Jinwoo hyung?!”

There’s vampire dust splattered across Seunghoon’s cheeks and the whole of Seungyoon’s clothes – the two of them making a protective half-circle around their eldest, who still has his hand raised, his own palm tattoo still shining dimly in the now silent darkness of the cavern.

Seungyoon is the first to run to him, pulling at the ties across his torso before going at it with his knife – hands uncharacteristically clumsy and Mino can see the tremble on the younger man’s shoulders, sagged with the same ebbing adrenaline and sheer relief that is coursing through Mino’s own veins.

“I’m okay, Seungyoon-ah” Mino laughs, even as Seungyoon engulfs him in a tight hug, knocking the wind out of his lungs and prickling the corners of his eyes with moisture “I’m okay, it’s okay”. He feels another pair of arm envelop him from behind, Jinwoo hyung’s familiar floral detergent smell impossibly comforting after a whole night of damp air and one too many whiffs of vampire dust. Seunghoon hyung ruffles his hair from outside their intertwined mass of bodies, nonchalant grin betrayed by the too-bright shine of his eyes, and Mino really feels like its okay despite the mass of dead vampires around them, despite everything.

They torch and collapse the whole place – Jinwoo hyung’s spirit fire doing most of the work before Seunghoon hyung commandeers his motorcycle back, ushering Mino inside Seungyoon’s battered old Nissan.

“That part about the opening…” Seunghoon hyung trails off, his usually impassive face troubled and the air around them sobers, a heavy weight pulling them back down from their fleeting high.

“We’ll talk about it in the house” Seungyoon nods, mouth a thin line before it slips into a small, questioning smile “But perhaps after some drinks? I think this man” He loops his arm around Mino’s shoulders, and Mino leans into the other man almost automatically. “Deserves a few drinks after tonight, don’t you think?”

Seunghoon hyung’s face relaxes into a smile, indulgent and fond, even as Jinwoo hyung starts to list off delivery options from the backseat. Soon enough they devolve into bickering as Mino and Seungyoon fight over tteokbokki or fried rice, Seunghoon hyung looking on in exasperation while Jinwoo hyung smiles on.

 

Mino does not fear the dark, not anymore. Because he knows that he is not alone. That there will always be the four of them, against the dark.

 

**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> My first proper Winner fanfic! :D I actually started this one a long time ago, having read one too many interviews with the boys about their hiatus and how difficult it was for them after Taehyun left, and it basically culminated into this AU where the Winner boys slays demons in a world that's ending and YG is a huge prick. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, and if you have time I really really appreciate any comments and feedbacks for the fic, especially since I'm still getting the hang of writing these four babies. Take care and have a great day/night! <3


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